2007 Omega Mission Hills World Cup

The 2007 Omega Mission Hills World Cup took place from November 22 to November 25 at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China. It was the 53rd World Cup. 28 countries competed and each country sent two players. [http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/r169/team_profiles.html PGATOUR.com - OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup ] ] The team purse is $5,000,000 with $1,600,000 going to the winner. The individual purse is $2,500,000 with $800,000 going to the winner. [http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/r169/format_and_prize.html PGATOUR.com - OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup ] ] The Scottish team of Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren won the tournament. They defeated the American team of Heath Slocum and Boo Weekley in a playoff on the third extra hole. This was the first time that Scotland won the World Cup.

Qualification and format

The leading 18 available players from the Official World Golf Ranking on September 3, 2007 qualified. These 18 players then selected a player from their country to compete with them. The person they pick had to be ranked within the top 100 on the Official World Golf Ranking as of September 3 2007. If there was no other player from that country within the top 100 then the next highest ranked player would be their partner. If there was no other available player from that country within the top 500, then the exempt player could choose whoever he wants as long as they are a professional from the same country. World qualifiers were held from September 27 to September 30. Ten countries earned their spot in the World Cup, five from the Asian qualifier and five from the Aruba qualifier.

The Championship is a 72-hole stroke play team event with each team comprising of two players. The first and third days are four-ball play and the second and final days are foursomes play.

Teams

*Source [http://dps.twiihosting.net/pga/doc/content/TheScoresWC1.pdf] 2nd Round (Foursomes)
*Scotland won in a play-off.
*Source [http://dps.twiihosting.net/pga/doc/content/doc_528_450.pdf]

Round summaries

1st Round

The 1st round took place on November 22 and it was played in four-ball format. The front 9 scoring average was 32.036 and the back 9 average was 32.893 making the 18 hole average 64.929. The leaders after day one was the American team of Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum who shot an 11-under-par 61. Weekley shot 6 birdies and an eagle while Slocum added a birdie and an eagle. Weekley's eagle was a hole out on the 12th hole which is a 457-yard par 4.

Right behind the Americans were the German team of Alex Čejka and Martin Kaymer who finished the day at a 10-under-par 62. Čejka led the team with 8 birdies. The German team of Marcel Siem and Bernhard Langer won the World Cup last year.

Six teams shot a 9-under-par round of 63 and they are tied in third place. The Finnish team was the first off the tee and the surprise was Pasi Purhonen who is not ranked in the Official World Golf Rankings. He started out shooting birdie-birdie-eagle and also birdied the 9th. His partner Mikko Ilonen birdied the 5th hole as well. The team shot a 30 on the front 9 which helped them finish at 63. The Welsh team of Bradley Dredge and Stephen Dodd also shot a 63; including birdies on four of the last five holes. Another team that finished with a 63 was the English team of Justin Rose and Ian Poulter who had a pair of eagles. The Scottish team of Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren also shot a 63 which included no bogeys. The South African and Thai team also shot a round of 63.

The host country China finished the day at 65 (-7) to be in a tie for 11th place. There were a total of 12 bogeys by all teams. Colombia and Puerto Rico (who are tied in last) each had 2 bogeys; no other team had more than one. [ [http://www.pgatour.com/2007/tournaments/r169/11/22/first.notes/index.html PGATOUR.COM - Omega Mission Hills World Cup: First-round notes ] ]

2nd Round

The 2nd round took place on November 23 and it was played in foursomes format. The amount of bogeys on the day almost septupled the amount from the 1st Round. A total of 83 bogeys were shot on the day including 8 double bogeys, one triple and one "other". The New Zealand team shot a quintuple-bogey 9 on the par-4 14th hole. The lowest round on the day was a 4-under-par 68 which was shot by four different teams. 14 teams shot rounds of par or worse. After the first two days, no team has had a bogey-free 36 holes.

The American team maintained their one stroke lead by shooting a 3-under-par 69. The Americans had a total of five birdies, four of which were on par-5s. The other birdie was on the par-4 opening hole. Since 2000, three of the seven winners have held the lead after 36 holes and have gone on to win the championship.

The English and Scottish teams are tied in 2nd place, one stroke behind the Americans. Both teams shot rounds of 68. The South African team is in 4th, 2 strokes behind the Americans. The host country China shot a 71 on the day and are tied in 12th place. [ [http://www.pgatour.com/2007/tournaments/r169/11/23/notes_rd2/index.html PGATOUR.COM - Omega Mission Hills World Cup: Second-round notes ] ]

3rd Round

The 3rd round took place on November 24 and it was played in four-ball format. The front 9 scoring average was 32.964 and the back 9 average was 33.643 making the 18 hole average 66.607. The American team maintained their one stroke lead by shooting a 66. Weekley eagled the 3rd hole and made birdies at 7, 9 and 11. All of those holes were par-5s. The American team has a total of 3 eagles on the tournament which is more than any other team. Germany has the most birdies with 22 while the Americans have 16. England and Denmark have the fewest bogeys, with one each. If the Americans win the event then they will be the first team to lead wire-to-wire in the last seven years. They have held a stroke lead after the first three days of the event.

The best round of the day was the 10-under-par 62 shot by the French team. The great round moved them from 10th place to 2nd place and they are 1 stroke behind the Americans. Raphaël Jacquelin made five birdies and his partner Grégory Havret made three birdies and an eagle. The French are tied with the Scottish team who shot a 66 on the day. Two strokes behind the Americans is the South African and English teams. The Dutch, Argentinians and Germans are tied in 6th place only 3 strokes behind the Americans.

Every team was under par on the day. Only five teams posted a better third round score compared to their 1st round score. [ [http://www.pgatour.com/2007/tournaments/r169/11/24/rd3_notes/index.html PGATOUR.COM - Omega Mission Hills World Cup: Third-round notes ] ]

Prize money breakdown

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"
- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
#
Per team ($)
Per player ($)
-
15
65,000
32,500
-
16
63,000
31,500
-
17
61,000
30,500
-
18
59,000
29,500
-
19
57,000
28,500
-
20
55,000
27,500
-
21
53,000
26,500
-
22
51,000
25,500
-
23
49,000
24,500
-
24
47,000
23,500
-
25
45,000
22,500
-
26
43,000
21,500
-
27
41,000
20,500
-
28
40,000
20,000
-
*Source

References

External links

* [http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/r169/ Coverage on the PGA Tour's official site]
* [http://www.missionhillsgroup.com/en/default.html Mission Hills Golf Club official site]